Synopsis
Part romance, part detective story, Sputnik Sweetheart tells the story of a tangled triangle of uniquely unrequited love.
K is madly in love with his best friend, Sumire, but her devotion to a writerly life precludes her from any personal commitments. At least, that is, until she meets an older woman to whom she finds herself irresistibly drawn. When Sumire disappears from an island off the coast of Greece, K is solicited to join the search party-and finds himself drawn back into her world and beset by ominous visions. Subtle and haunting, Sputnik Sweetheart is a profound meditation on human longing.
Review
Sputnik Sweetheart finds Haruki Murakami in his minimalist mode. Shorter than the sweeping Wind-up Bird Chronicle, less playfully bizarre than A Wild Sheep Chase, the author's seventh novel distills his signature themes into a powerful story about the loneliness of the human condition. "There was nothing solid we could depend on," the reader is told. "We were nearly boundless zeros, just pitiful little beings swept from one kind of oblivion to another."
The narrator is a teacher whose only close friend is Sumire, an aspiring young novelist with chronic writer's block. Sumire is suddenly smitten with a sophisticated businesswoman and accompanies her love object to Europe where, on a tiny Greek island, she disappears "like smoke." The schoolteacher hastens to the island in search of his friend. And there he discovers two documents on her computer, one of which reveals a chilling secret about Sumire's lover.
Sputnik Sweetheart is a melancholy love story, and its deceptively simple prose is saturated with sadness. Characters struggle to connect with one another but never quite succeed. Like the satellite of the title they are essentially alone. And by toning down the pyrotechnics of his earlier work, Murakami has created a world that is simultaneously mundane and disturbing--where doppelg�ngers and vanishing cats produce a pervasive atmosphere of alienation, and identity itself seems like a terribly fragile thing. --Simon Leake
Haruki Murakami, the internationally bestselling author of "Norwegian Wood and "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, plunges us into an urbane Japan of jazz bars, coffee shops, Jack Kerouac, and the Beatles to tell this story of a tangled triangle of uniquely unrequited loves.
A college student, identified only as "K," falls in love with his classmate, Sumire. But devotion to an untidy writerly life precludes her from any personal commitments-until she meets Miu, an older and much more sophisticated businesswoman. When Sumire disappears from an island off the coast of Greece, "K" is solicited to join the search party and finds himself drawn back into her world and beset by ominous, haunting visions. A love story combined with a detective story, Sputnik Sweetheart ultimately lingers in the mind as a profound meditation on human longing.
Sputnik Sweetheart
Part romance, part detective story, Sputnik Sweetheart tells the story of a tangled triangle of uniquely unrequited love. K is madly in love with his best friend, Sumire, but her devotion to a writerly life precludes her from any personal commitments. At least, that is, until she meets an older woman to whom she finds herself irresistibly drawn. When Sumire disappears from an island off the coast of Greece, K is solicited to join the search party—and finds himself drawn back into her world and beset by ominous visions. Subtle and haunting, Sputnik Sweetheart is a profound meditation on human longing.
Part romance, part detective story, Sputnik Sweetheart tells the story of a tangled triangle of uniquely unrequited love."
South of the Border, West of the Sun
South of the Border, West of the Sun is the beguiling story of a past rekindled, and one of Haruki Murakami’s most touching novels. Hajime has arrived at middle age with a loving family and an enviable career, yet he feels incomplete. When a childhood friend, now a beautiful woman, shows up with a secret from which she is unable to escape, the fault lines of doubt in Hajime’s quotidian existence begin to give way. Rich, mysterious, and quietly dazzling, in South of the Border, West of the Sun the simple arc of one man’s life becomes the exquisite literary terrain of Murakami’s remarkable genius.
South of the Border, West of the Sun is the beguiling story of a past rekindled, and one of Haruki Murakami’s most touching novels."
A Wild Haruki Chase
For all Haruki Murakami fans, an investigation into the universal themes and global popularity of his work.
For all Haruki Murakami fans, an investigation into the universal themes and global popularity of his work."
Haruki Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
This is an excellent guide to Haruki Murakami's extraordinary novel. It features a biography of the author (including an interview), a full-length analysis of the novel, and a great deal more. If you're studying this novel, reading it for your book club, or if you simply want to know more about it, you'll find this guide informative and helpful. This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years - from ‘The Remains of the Day' to ‘White Teeth'. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.
If you're studying this novel, reading it for your book club, or if you simply want to know more about it, you'll find this guide informative and helpful. This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels."
A Study Guide for Haruki Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore"
A Study Guide for Haruki Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Literary Newsmakers for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Literary Newsmakers for Students for all of your research needs.
This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more."
Novels by Haruki Murakami
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Commentary (novels not included). Pages: 18. Chapters: 1Q84, After Dark (novel), A Wild Sheep Chase, Dance Dance Dance (novel), Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Hear the Wind Sing, Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood (novel), Pinball, 1973, South of the Border, West of the Sun, Sputnik Sweetheart, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Excerpt: 1Q84 (One Q Eighty-Four or ichi-kew-hachi-yon Ichi-Ky -Hachi-Yon)) is a novel by Haruki Murakami, first published in three volumes in Japan in 2009-10. The novel quickly became a sensation, with its first printing selling out the day it was released, and reaching sales of one million within a month. The English language edition of all three volumes, with the first two volumes translated by Jay Rubin and the third by Philip Gabriel, was released in North America and the United Kingdom on October 25, 2011. An excerpt from the novel, "Town of Cats," appeared in the September 5, 2011 issue of The New Yorker magazine. The first chapter of 1Q84 has also been read as an excerpt at Selected Shorts. The novel was originally published in Japan in three hardcover volumes by Shinchosha. Book 1 and Book 2 were both published on May 29, 2009; Book 3 was published on April 16, 2010. In English translation, Knopf published the novel in the United States in a single volume on October 25, 2011. In the United Kingdom the novel was published by Harvill Secker in two volumes. The first volume, containing Books 1 and 2, was published on October 18, 2011, followed by the second volume, containing Book 3, published on October 25, 2011. The cover for the Knopf edition, featuring a transparent dust jacket, was created by Chip Kidd. Murakami spent four years writing the novel after coming up with the opening sequence and title. The title is a play on the Japanese pronunciation of the year 1984, a reference to George...
In English translation, Knopf published the novel in the United States in a single volume on October 25, 2011. In the United Kingdom the novel was published by Harvill Secker in two volumes."
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage: A Novel by Haruki Murakami (Trivia-on-Books)
Play a little Trivia-on-Book: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami Tsukuru Tazaki has always been a fan of train stations. Back in the 1990s in his hometown of Nagoya, he would spend most of his time with four high school friends, all with "colorful names" leaving Tsukuru the “colorless” in the group. One day in 1995, his best friends suddenly cut all ties with him. Feeling abandoned and neglected, Tsukuru became depressed and suicidal. Sixteen years later, Tsukuru is now 36-years-old and works as a train station engineer and still unable to move on from his past. His girlfriend urges him to confront his past because she wants him to commit to their relationship. Tsukuru sets off on a journey to unravel his past and find the quest for truth, happiness, and acceptance. You may have read the book, but not have liked it. You may have liked the book, but not be a fan. You may call yourself a fan, but few truly are. Are you? Trivia-on-Books is an unofficial independently quiz-formatted trivia on the book for readers, students, and fans alike. Whether you're looking for new materials to the book or would like to take the challenge yourself and share it with your friends and family for a time of fun, Trivia-on-Books provides a unique approach that is both insightful and educational! Features You'll Find Inside: • 30 Multiple choice questions on the book, plots, characters and author • Insightful commentary to answer every question • Complementary quiz material for yourself or your reading group • Results provided with scores to determine "status" Promising quality and value, grab your copy of Trivia-on-Books!
Tsukuru sets off on a journey to unravel his past and find the quest for truth, happiness, and acceptance. You may have read the book, but not have liked it. You may have liked the book, but not be a fan."
Historical Dictionary of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater
Historical Dictionary of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 500 cross-referenced entries authors, literary and historical developments, trends, genres, and concepts.
New York: Vintage International , 2001. Murakami , Haruki , and Philip Gabriel. The Sputnik Sweetheart: A Novel. New York: Knopf, 2001. Murakami , Haruki , Philip Gabriel, and Jay Rubin. Blind Willow , Sleeping Woman : Twenty-Four Stories."
The Cultural Complex
Based on Jung's theory of complexes, this book offers a new perspective on conflicts between groups and cultures, demonstrating how the effects of cultural complexes can be felt in the behaviour of disenfranchised groups across the world.
My position is different from these three approaches which always see the novel and psychology as two separate entities ... Among many interesting novels of Haruki Murakami , I would like to concentrate mainly on Sputnik Sweetheart and ..."
Cultural Complexes in China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan
Thomas Singer presents a unique collection which examines cultural complexes in four parts of East Asia: China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. From ancestor worship in China to the "kimchi bitch" meme of South Korea, the wounded feminine in Taiwan and hikikomori in Japan, the contributors take a Jungian lens to aspects of culture and shine a light on themes including gender, archetypes, consciousness, social roles, and political relations. This insightful and timely book will be essential reading for academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian ideas, politics, sociology, and Asian studies. It will also be of great interest to Jungian analysts in practice and in training.
Among the many interesting novels written by Haruki Murakami , I would like to concentrate mainly on Sputnik Sweetheart (2001) and refer to other novels in connection with specific points.5 The reason for this choice is that the work ..."
Haruki Murakami and the Search for Self-Therapy
Haruki Murakami, a global literary phenomenon, has said that he started writing fiction as a means of self-therapy. What he has not discussed as much is what he needed self-therapy for. This book argues that by understanding more about why Murakami writes, and by linking this with the question of how he writes, readers can better understand what he writes. Murakami's fiction, in other words, can be read as a search for self-therapy. In five chapters which explore Murakami's fourteen novels to date, this book argues that there are four prominent therapeutic threads woven through Murakami's fiction that can be traced back to his personal traumas - most notably Murakami's falling out with his late father and the death of a former girlfriend – and which have also transcended them in significant ways as they have been transformed into literary fiction. The first thread looks at the way melancholia must be worked through for mourning to occur and healing to happen; the second thread looks at how symbolic acts of sacrifice can help to heal intergenerational trauma; the third thread looks at the way people with avoidant attachment styles can begin to open themselves up to love again; the fourth thread looks at how individuation can manifest as a response to nihilism. Meticulously researched and written with sensitivity, the result is a sophisticated exploration of Murakami's published novels as an evolving therapeutic project that will be of great value to all scholars of Japanese literature and culture.
This is a dynamic which first appears in Kafka and which continues in the novels discussed in the next chapter. 1 It's All Greek to Me: The Apollonian and the Dionysian in Sputnik Sweetheart One way to read Sputnik Sweetheart is as a ..."
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
A "dreamlike and compelling” tour de force (Chicago Tribune)—an astonishingly imaginative detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets from Japan’s forgotten campaign in Manchuria during World War II. In a Tokyo suburb, a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife’s missing cat—and then for his wife as well—in a netherworld beneath the city’s placid surface. As these searches intersect, he encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists. Gripping, prophetic, and suffused with comedy and menace, this is one of Haruki Murakami’s most acclaimed and beloved novels.
HARUKI MURAKAMI The Wind - Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo . ... Norwegian Wood ; South of the Border , West of the Sun ; Sputnik Sweetheart ; Underground ; and A Wild Sheep Chase ."
Remembering the Space Age
From the Publisher: Proceedings of October 2007 conference, sponsored by the NASA History Division and the National Air and Space Museum, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik 1 launch in October 1957 and the dawn of the space age.
Like “ technocracy , ” the phrase “ Spaceship Earth ” echoed in a broad range of cultural products during the Space Age . In 1963 , Buckminster Fuller published Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth ; in 1966 Kenneth Boulding wrote Human ..."
Remembering the space age: Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Conference
Proceedings of October 2007 conference, sponsored by the NASA History Division and the National Air and Space Museum, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik 1 launch in October 1957 and the dawn of the space age.
Like " technocracy , " the phrase " Spaceship Earth " echoed in a broad range of cultural products during the Space Age . In 1963 , Buckminster Fuller published Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth ; in 1966 Kenneth Boulding wrote Human ..."
The Call Me Ishmael Phone Book
For fans of My Ideal Bookshelf and Bibliophile, The Call Me Ishmael Phone Book is the perfect gift for book lovers everywhere: a quirky and entertaining interactive guide to reading, featuring voicemails, literary Easter eggs, checklists, and more, from the creators of the popular multimedia project. The Call Me Ishmael Phone Book is an interactive illustrated homage to the beautiful ways in which books bring meaning to our lives and how our lives bring meaning to books. Carefully crafted in the style of a retro telephone directory, this guide offers you a variety of unique ways to connect with readers, writers, bookshops, and life-changing stories. In it, you’ll discover... -Heartfelt, anonymous voicemail messages and transcripts from real-life readers sharing unforgettable stories about their most beloved books. You’ll hear how a mother and daughter formed a bond over their love for Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, or how a reader finally felt represented after reading Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese, or how two friends performed Mary Oliver’s Thirst to a grove of trees, or how Anne Frank inspired a young writer to continue journaling. -Hidden references inside fictional literary adverts like Ahab’s Whale Tours and Miss Ophelia’s Psychic Readings, and real-life literary landmarks like Maya Angelou City Park and the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum. -Lists of bookstores across the USA, state by state, plus interviews with the book lovers who run them. -Various invitations to become a part of this book by calling and leaving a bookish voicemail of your own. -And more! Quirky, nostalgic, and full of heart, The Call Me Ishmael Phone Book is a love letter to the stories that change us, connect us, and make us human.
Ext. 4660 Hi, this is Rinker Buck . I'm the author of Flight of Passage and The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey , and the best book in the English language is Wilfred Thesiger's Arabian Sands, followed closely by Wilfred Thesiger's ..."
Haruki Murakami
Japanese writer Haruki Murakami has achieved incredible popularity in his native country and world-wide as well as rising critical acclaim. Murakami, in addition to receiving most of the major literary awards in Japan, has been nominated several times for the Nobel Prize. Yet, his relationship with the Japanese literary community proper (known as the Bundan) has not been a particularly friendly one. One of Murakami’s central and enduring themes is a persistent warning not to suppress our fundamental desires in favor of the demands of society at large. Murakami’s writing over his career reveals numerous recurring motifs, but his message has also evolved, creating a catalogue of works that reveals Murakami to be a challenging author. Many of those challenges lie in Murakami’s blurring of genre as well as his rich blending of Japanese and Western mythologies and styles—all while continuing to offer narratives that attract and captivate a wide range of readers. Murakami is, as Ōe Kenzaburō once contended, not a “Japanese writer” so much as a global one, and as such, he merits a central place in the classroom in order to confront readers and students, but to be challenged as well. Reading, teaching, and studying Murakami serves well the goal of rethinking this world. It will open new lines of inquiry into what constitutes national literatures, and how some authors, in the era of blurred national and cultural boundaries, seek now to transcend those boundaries and pursue a truly global mode of expression.
Such an examination of Murakami's work thus not only contributes a new way of enjoying his work; ... Bulletin of Hitotsubashi University International Center, 4, 75–94. ... Blind Willow , sleeping woman (P. Gabriel & J. Rubin, Trans.)."
Murakami Haruki and Our Years of Pilgrimage
This book is a timely and expansive volume on Murakami Haruki, arguably Japan's most high-profile contemporary writer. With contributions from prominent Murakami scholars, this book approaches the works of Murakami Haruki through interdisciplinary perspectives, discussing their significance and value through the lenses of history; geography; politics; gender and sexuality; translation; and literary influence and circulation. Together the chapters provide a multifaceted assessment on Murakami’s literary oeuvre in the last four decades, vouching for its continuous importance in understanding the world and Japan in contemporary times. The book also features exclusive material that includes the cultural critic Katō Norihiro’s final work on Murakami – his chapter here is one of the few works ever translated into English – to interviews with Murakami and discussions from his translators and editors, shedding light not only on Murakami’s works as literature but as products of cross-cultural exchanges. Murakami Haruki and Our Years of Pilgrimage will prove a valuable resource for students and scholars of Japanese studies, comparative and world literature, cultural studies, and beyond.
The Murakami pilgrimage: A guide to the real-life places of Haruki Murakami's fiction. ... New York: Vintage Books. ... In: Murakami H. Blind Willow , Sleeping Woman : Twenty-Four Stories. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 273–290. Murakami ..."
Sputnik, Meu Amor
A male college student falls in love with a woman who, over the years, guides him in her travels, and then disappears without trace. Assisting in the search for her, he goes home to Japan, where he finally achieves a true understanding of his beloved.
A male college student falls in love with a woman who, over the years, guides him in her travels, and then disappears without trace."
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